Interview Avec EPICA

Si vous aimez le métal , la musique classique ou les "soundtracks" des films , vous aimerez surement epica . Je crois qu'un tel groupe ne nécessite pas une présentation de chez moi , un groupe qui a du talent , un groupe qui fait un musique assez recherchée , un groupe qui n'est pas mal connu partout dans le monde , un groupe qui compte parmi ses membres de vrais musiciens , un groupe , certainement , pas comme les autres . L'interview je l'ai eu avec le guitariste et le chanteur Mark Jansen qui a bien accentué la ponctualité et l'esprit professionnel d'EPICA .
L'interview est en anglais . J'allais le traduire comme pour les autres en français , mais j'ai pensé à ce que le vrai sens des répliques sera plus ou moins perdus .


Wael : It's a big and immense pleasure to talk with you ; mark jansen , the grunter , growler , guitar player and the compositor of epica . Let's start , we know that epica is a symphonic metal band , but if we ask you to give us your own presentation , you will say ?

Mark: I will say a gothic metal band. Not because I think this covers it all but because it's the most common name for our style of music.If I have more words to describe I often say, symphonic filmmusic with operatic vocals combined with metal and grunts.

Wael : So let's talk about music , your music is a "symphonic metal" but we find many other influences like the latin and the oriental music . So how can you define it ?

Mark: The more you travel the more yu get in touch with other cultures, that's very interesting and also interesting to put it into your own music. I like many different kinds of (oriental) music and it's great to use it in our own music as well.

Wael : And how is oriental music important to the ex-"sahara dust " ?

Mark: That's why our first name was sahara dust, because of the many oriental influences. But because of the departure of our first singer we decided to change our name.

Wael : In the lyrics , we remark also that you critisize mythism and extremism . more informations about this ?

Mark: I don't like to see that there are more and more contrasts between people while it would be better to come closer to each other and learn from each other. Instead people get frightened of each other. It's a pity. Extremism is the extreme result of this fear and gets dangerous. Extremism is never good. The best intentions can have dramatic results. The wordt actions in history often happened because people thought they were fighting for justice. But who knows for sure who is right and who is not?

That's why we should learn from each other, every culture has its own whisdom.

Wael : You have only 4 albums but more EPs and singles . Can we know why do you prefer to make More EPs than albums ?

Mark: Our former Record company liked to release singles. I prefer albums above singles.

Wael : And what album or song was the closest to your personality ? to your feelings ? points of view ?

Mark: Consign to Oblivion, it contains almost everything what I am.

Wael : If we talk about band members , we discover that main epica's problem , if we can say , was the drummer . Is it really hard to find a drummer that can assume epica's necesities ?

Mark: Now we have the perfect drummer. Arien joined us one year ago after the departure of Jeroen Simons. It took a while before we had a new drummer as we set the level incredibly high. Arien drummed on the album but could not join us in the beginning, but no drummer could match his standard so we were very happy that Arien decided to join us after all :)

Wael : One of your last concerts was with the hungarian symphonic orchestra in which you have played some classical songs and soundtracks in a metal version . can you tell us more about this experience ?

Mark: It was a great experience! All these classical masterpieces played by the orchestra and us. It was amazing. It was also the longest setlist we ever did! 3.5 hours.

the whole classical setlist and after that a long Epica setlist with 2 encores!

Wael : And what other concerts were really important to your career ?

Mark: The one in Tunisia I'll never forget too. It was so overwhelming to see the reaction of the crowd, people were crying at the front rows. So full of emotion as we were the first international metalband coming to Tunisia. We hope to be return as soon as possible.

There are more concerts that were very special but it's more or less 30 shows that have been very important for our carreer.

Wael : Can we have some informations about epica's next album as a gift for our webzine , dark interviews ?

Mark: it will be a long album again,'the songwriter is in full process. I am very satisfied so far. Very challenging songs, and lots of creativity.

I hope we can match the level of the divine conspiracy as it was our mist high standard album so far. But I'm confident we will.

Wael : Is there any other symphonic metal bands or projects that you like ?

Mark: I love Opeth! Great music and also lots of creativity.

Wael : And have you an idea about the tunisian and arabic metal scene ?

Mark: I am in contact with some guys from underground metalbands in Arabia. I hope metal will be accepted by arabian governments as there is still a lot of misunderstanding about metal.

Wael : If you weren't in epica , what would you may be doing now ?

Mark: I would have become a professional cyclist.

Wael : finally i have to thank you for your understanding and comprehension . thank you mark!

Mark: Thank you too!!!